Gingersnaps

My favorite kind of gingersnaps are the soft kind. I do like the old fashioned hard ones with my tea because I like to dip them in the tea and then drink some of the spices.

3 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cloves
extra sugar for rolling

In a bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add egg one at a time. Blend thoroughly in between each egg. Add molasses and blend. In a separate bowl, combine, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Add dry mixture in small amounts and blend in between each addition.

Place dough in fridge until it is easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place about a 1/3 of a cup of sugar in a bowl. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar and place them on an ungreased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8-12 minutes or until puffy and cracks form. Dough spreads out a great deal while baking. Cool about 1 minute before transferring.

Soothe Your Throat

This is great for a sore throat or when you lose your voice.

Slice a lemon in quarters and place two of the slices in a mug.  Add a 1-2 teaspoons to a tablespoon of your favorite honey. One to two teaspoons is sufficient for this, but some prefer it to be sweeter. I always use local, raw honey.  Pour boiling water over top and stir to dissolve honey.  Let steep and discard solids if you want.

Some studies also state that honey is also a great cough suppressant when taken right before bed time.

Jenny and Billy's Wedding

Such a fun time!

Cranberry Pork/Chicken

4 pork chops or chicken breasts
16 oz can whole cranberry sauce (I use Ocean Spray)
1/2 cup french onion dressing
1/2 packet onion soup mix (I use Lipton's)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place pork or chicken in a glass baking dish.

In a saucepan combine everything else.  Heat to melt the jellied part of the cranberry sauce. Stir to combine. Pour over pork or chicken. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

My mom gave me this recipe. I never knew what was in it and when she told me I said, "Ewww really?"  I wouldn't have thought these go together so well! My mother has always made it with chicken.  She sometimes make this for Christmas dinner.  I tried it with pork one day and it was really yummy. I grow bored with chicken if we have it too much.

Richmond Zombie Walk 2011

We had a lot of fun dressing up!

Two Happy Years of Marriage

"the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

This is so true when entering into a marriage. We have traveled several miles so far and it has been a wonderful adventure. I am truly excited to see what comes next.

Happy anniversary to my wonderful husband!

Potato/Onion Bin

My amazing friend, Christy, bought this potato and onion bin for me. We have had numerous conversations about how we each wanted one. Her grandmother had one and gave it to her back in July. Christy found one at the Goodwill and brought it to my work as a surprise! It was a nice gift and she is such a great friend!

Kristin and John's Wedding

My little sister got married! Such a beautiful day.

We have awesome and generous friends!

Big thanks to Laura and Max for our homemade apple sauce. Max picked about ten pounds of apples last week and they still have some left. This was the first time Laura made applesauce. She did not make it too sweet and is not sure why it turned out the color of apple butter. The recipe did not say to skin the apples so maybe that is why? Or maybe she did not use enough protector to preserve the color? Who knows and who cares because it tastes great!

So thankful!

Warm Cider with Mulling Spices

It is fall! In this house it means putting another quilt on the bed, attending fall festivals, carving pumpkins, using apple butter instead of jam, making/eating pumpkin nut bread, making/eating apple related foods and drinking cider/cranberry juice/coffee with mulling spices!

I just love mulling spices. I got this jar for free! If you have never heard of Penzey's Spices then please check them out here.They have a Richmond location in Carytown. The spices are great and mailer is free. The mailer sometimes comes with coupons for half off/free coupons, which is how I got the mulling spices for free. The mailer also includes recipes that are created by customers. The business does not create them at all. It is pretty cool to see what others are doing. Please check them out.

Oatmeal Spice Muffins

You can check it out here. That site is my best friend's blog.

These are super easy too. A bit rich to just eat for breakfast, but I was thinking you could have it with something else. I sometimes eat part of my breakfast in the car on the way to work. I feel like I never have enough time in the morning. I will eat eggs with toast and cereal at the table and then eat a banana or granola bar in the car. Sometimes I completely space on breakfast and just eat cereal. One of these with some fruit in the car could work.

Mine actually yielded 12 muffins. I guess I could have filled them higher and would get 10 muffins.
217 calories per muffin. Not bad!

1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 cup milk (I used 1% as well)
1 large egg
1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (could also use allspice or pumpkin pie spice)
1 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

In a bowl, combine the milk and oats. Let this sit for one hour so the oats can set up.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a bowl, add the egg, melted margarine, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Add flour and stir. Add the oat and milk mixture. You just want to stir everything enough to thorough combine, but do not over stir. According to my friend, the muffins can turn out hard if you over stir. Not good!

I ran out of paper muffin cups so I greased a muffin tin really well with cooking spray. They slide right out so it should work for you too.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Voila!

Note: I feel these would be really good even if the chocolate chips were not used. Add more spices and it would be like an oatmeal spice muffin. Add ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and it be lovely!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie

Prepared Graham Cracker Crust
1 cup boiling water
2 oz semi sweet baking chocolate (2 cubes)
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
mini chocolate chips

When I was making my tea this morning, I added more water to the kettle for the boiling water part.  I measured out one cup and poured it into a saucepan.  Add chocolate and let it get soft.  I waited about five minutes to steep my tea and enjoy a few sips. Turn on the burner to a low heat. Add sugar and stir. Add cornstarch and continuously stir until combined. Add softened butter and stir until combined. Remove from heat. I poured the chocolate mixture into a 4 cup measuring cup. Pour it into the crust until only 1/4 to 1/2 is left in the measuring cup. Place in the freezer until hardened.

In a bowl, add peanut butter, milk and sifted powdered sugar. You do not need to sift the powdered sugar if you do not want to. The peanut butter may be lumpier, but it will not ruin the taste! I just wanted everything to be really smooth.  Spread on top of the hardened chocolate. Top with mini chocolate chips if you want to.

This is not a classic peanut butter pie recipe.  Usually it has cream cheese and/or heavy cream in it.  But this is just as tasty and very easy.

Jessie and Rick's Wedding

Congrats you two!